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| CSIRO | SOLVE | Issue 3 - May 05 | |
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ARTICLE
MINERALOGY:
Revealing Art's Secrets By REBECCA THYER
In an unusual science-art collaboration, researchers at CSIRO Minerals and CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology have been working with NGV to analyse paintings by Mark Rothko and Paul Sérusier. And they are about to start work on an Egyptian sarcophagus. NGV's senior conservator of painting, John Payne, says the work with CSIRO is about analysing material and adding to knowledge. "The information can inform existing strategies or help us to create preservation or restoration strategies," he says. "A lot of work is also about understanding what the object is and the background history. For example, material in paint can help identify when an artwork was created." Work with CSIRO has helped the gallery learn more about Sérusier's Boys on a river bank. Although the painting is dated 1906, examination revealed another underlayer of paint carrying an almost identical composition. It is likely this layer was applied at a much earlier time and the new layer applied to compensate for damage when the canvas was rolled. Through the use of an electron microprobe - an electron beam instrument with high-resolution X-ray spectrometry - CSIRO is able to determine chemical information from samples that are only one micron (a millionth of a metre) in size. CSIRO Minerals Microbeam Laboratory manager, Colin MacRae, says that while CSIRO usually uses this technology in characterisation work for the minerals and mineral processing industries, the team has used its expertise to determine chemical composition and variation across paint layers in works of art. CSIRO microanalyst Nick Wilson says they are only given 'pinheads' of material to analyse, but it is enough. Understanding the chemistry of the paintings helps the NGV to restore the paint surface by using materials equivalent to those used by the original artist. Mr MacRae says planned work on the Egyptian sarcophagus will be intriguing because no restoration work has been undertaken on it before. "Everything we find will be original work ... which is very exciting."
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Forensic examination of the mineral components of ancient paint, using modern mineralogy, is helping the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to unravel mysteries hidden within some of its greatest works of art.
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